Under the Arch: A Sign of What’s to Come

Greg Maddox, Alestle Reporter

by Greg Maddox, Alestle Reporter

Baseball season is officially underway and the St Louis Cardinals kicked off the 2010 season with a bang, beating division rival Cincinnati 11-6.

In Albert Pujols’s first at-bat of the season he sent one careening over the wall. He would add another later to go along with home runs by Yadier Molina and Colby Rasmus. The Cardinals put up 12 hits against the Reds.

The Cardinals looked sharp and came out like they had something to prove. The players must still have a bitter taste in their mouths from the playoffs last year, but they have put it all behind them to focus on this season. They seem to be the unanimous favorites to win the NL Central, and they look more than capable, though it is extremely early.

The Cardinals pitching was solid for their first outing. Carpenter went six innings, giving up five hits and two earned runs, both on home runs. The bullpen came out flat, but I think that Franklin will pull them all together when he gets warmed up. I just hope that he shakes off the later part of the season and post season he had last year.

In the end I do not think anyone is going to remember what happened opening week (except a few years down the line when Jason Hayward is a star), but wins matter, and come August, the Cards are going to want as many as possible.

In Rams news, rumors were flying around earlier in the week about a trade for Washington Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. Apparently the Redskins tried to move Albert with the Donovan McNabb trade, but the Eagles didn’t want him. Haynesworth is a big footprint on the Redskins’ payroll this year, and apparently his lack of effort isn’t impressing new head coach Mike Shanahan.

The rumor stated that the Redskins are interested in Rams defensive tackle and former first round pick Adam Carriker. The Redskins are switching to a 3-4 defense and Carriker fits that system much better. Haynesworth has said he wants no part of the 3-4 and is very displeased with the decision.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter denied the rumors today, and since he is very close to Mike Shanahan, you have to believe the rumor is dead. Haynesworth would be an instant upgrade to the Rams’ defensive line and would remove all interest of Ndamukong Suh with their first round pick in the draft. The Redskins just paid Haynesworth’s big roster bonus, so they have almost $21 million tied up in the defensive tackle, so you can not see them letting him get away cheap.

All signs still point to the Rams going Sam Bradford with the number one overall pick April 22. I’ll try to keep up with all draft rumors I hear about leading up to draft night.

Cardinals record as of April 7:  2-0.

Under the Arch: Does Bradford’s pro day lock up #1?

Greg Maddox, Alestle Reporter

by Greg Maddox, Alestle Reporter

Coaches, scouts, managers, assistants, and whoever else could make it from all 32 teams in the NFL made their way to Norman, Oka. last Monday to watch somebody throw a football 63 times. Before you say “what a waste of time” I should clarify that the man throwing the ball was former Heismann Trophy winner and top quarterback prospect Sam Bradford.

Bradford threw a scripted 50 passes and an additional 13 to his Oklahoma teammates, the first time Bradford has thrown in front of the public in almost six months. As most college football fans know, Bradford injured his shoulder in the second game of the season and came back three weeks later only to re-injure the same shoulder after a 300-pound defensive lineman drove Bradford into the turf. Bradford ended his season early and underwent surgery to repair the shoulder.

James Andrews, known as the authority when it comes to joint and ligament injuries to athletes, performed the surgery and has since given Bradford his stamp of approval. Andrews says Bradford’s shoulder is healed and is well ahead of the curve as far as his physical therapy goes. No questions have arisen about Bradford’s health since the end of the season, and his strong pro day performance has seemingly answered any other questions about the strength of the shoulder.

The St. Louis Rams hold the number one pick in the draft and have a colossal hole at the quarterback spot. Bulger is old, injury prone, and has a heavy contract, Kyle Boller is going to be looking for a job outside of the NFL, and Keith Null can be a solid backup. The Rams have needed a franchise quarterback for awhile, and Bradford could be the answer.

Many fans will clamor for top defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, but a team as bad as the Rams needs the hope that a franchise quarterback can bring. Steve Spagnuolo and Billy Devaney were both in Norman to watch and speak with Bradford.

Bradford completed every pass he threw at the pro day and looked good doing it, throwing with zip and accuracy. His footwork was solid and showed impressive drop-back abilities. While it is important to emphasize the fact that it was not against a live defense, everyone was impressed with how strong Bradford threw the ball. Gil Brandt, considered a godfather of modern scouting, called the workout the best he had seen since Troy Aikman in the 90s.

A pro-day shouldn’t guarantee the number one spot for Bradford, but it should wrap up all the questions that needed to be asked about the health of his shoulder. All it comes down to now is whether or not the Rams decode to take the plunge and take their franchise quarterback at number one; something they haven’t done since the 1960’s.

Under the Arch: Battered Red Birds

Greg Maddox, Alestle Reporter

by Greg Maddox, Alestle Reporter

Flowers are blooming, rain is pouring, and here at SIUE the geese area attacking. It’s springtime, and you know what that means: baseball season is right around the corner.

St Louis Cardinal fans have a lot to look forward to this season. A fairly active off-season has bolstered the batting order and smoothed out the pitching rotation. The talent level on this team is high, and the players are poised for a run at the central.

Additions such as Matt Holliday, Felipe Lopez and Brad Penne are solid moves for a Cardinals team that has a knack for being conservative in the off-season. These acquisitions aren’t guaranteeing a contention with the Yankees quite yet, but the Cardinals are easily the most improved team in the NL Central.

The recurring theme for the Cardinals during spring training has been injuries. Pujols’ back is out of whack, Molina’s oblique is strained, and many other players are missing time with ticky-tack injuries.

Fans may be concerned with the fairly lengthy injury report, but before you get panicky, you must realize it is March 26.  These guys have had a long off-season after playing 166 games last season. I don’t know about you, but if I had to play 166 games of baseball in a seven-month span, I would want a lot of rest, too. Naturally if these players have been sitting on their couches since October, they may be a little out of shape.

Pujols has played more games than anybody the past nine seasons. The anti-inflammatory shot he is taking is just to keep him healthy enough to work through the injury during the spring. Come opening day, Pujols will be back to being the best player in the bigs. The man played with a horrible elbow injury during the same season he hit a career high 49 home runs.

Even with the solid offseason additions, the Cardinals are far from a perfect team. It is going to be difficult for any team to take out the growing powerhouse that is the Philadelphia Phillies. However, after them, I think it is a very competitive race at the top of the National League, a race I think the Cardinals could win.

The division is weak as ever. For the first time in awhile I foresee the Pirates being a bigger threat to the Cardinals than I do the Cubs (even if cutting Milton Bradley was addition via subtraction for them). And this is coming from one very pessimistic Cardinals fan.

If Cardinals fans want to worry about anything, it should be the hole at third base or the fact that Jaime Garcia is coming back from Tommy John surgery to be our fifth starter.

SIUE and Charter reach TV agreement

SIUE sports information announced yesterday an agreement has been made with Charter Communications to air ten SIUE basketball games LIVE from the Vadalabene Center.

This is great news for the university, considering Charter reaches half a million homes in the St. Louis area, and the television contract will allow SIUE to further branch out into the St. Louis market, and put itself into the local college hoops conversation with Missouri, Illinois and SLU.

Don’t know the cost, or any specifics regarding the contract, besides the games will air on Channel 3, the Charter Communications Information Network (basically the public access channel, but it’s a channel nonetheless) as they happen and again in tape delay, Randy Karraker, a well known St. Louis media personality will be doing the play by play, and ten games, including the home openers are set to be broadcast.

This boosts SIUE’s television exposure this season to 12 games, Friday’s men’s opener at the University of Illinois will air on ESPN360.com (also a part of ESPN’s pay per view package on television, so I’m sure Charter will broadcast the feed live on television locally, as they did last season for a pair of games) and the Dec. 22 game at Purdue is on ESPNU.

That explains the new press conferences and confusion over media seating at the VC during the exhibition games. Should be a great thing for SIUE, hopefully it doesn’t take away from attendance at the games.

Here is Charter’s schedule for the season from the press release:

Date Opponent Game Time
Sun., Nov. 15 Milwaukee Noon
Sun., Nov. 15 Illinois State (M) 2:30 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 28 Lipscomb (M) 2:00 p.m.
Sun., Dec. 20 Loyola (M) 2:00 p.m.
Tue., Dec. 22 Missouri State 7:00 p.m.
Mon., Dec. 28 UMKC (M) 7:00 p.m.
Wed., Dec. 30 Murray State (M) 7:00 p.m.
Tue., Jan. 5 Milwaukee (M) 7:00 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 5 South Dakota (M) 7:00 p.m.
Sun., Feb. 7 North Dakota (M) 1:30 p.m.

Headed to the U of I tomorrow around two with T.J, should be fun, be sure to keep up with the live blog during the game, and as you watch online. Instead of blogging straight into this we will have a link available around 6 p.m with cover it live, so you can interact and ask questions about the game as it happens or share your input. Much more interactive approach, hope you join us!

Allan Lewis
Alestle Sports Editor